Related Posts

Is there a set of rules for words that are not pronounced as they are written? For example 혼잣말 is is written as “honjatmarl,” but is pronounced “honjangmarl.” Someday it would be great if the busy teachers at TTMIK could provide an explanation of the rules for pronouncing such words.

(By the way, very tasteful graphics at the beginning of this video!)

Greg

Yes, there are. Just search youtube. Not everything have to be by TTMIK. And well in case of 혼잣말 generally it’s 잔말 not 장, but not big difference (btw my post below not related to Korean pronunciation I think. It’s more like related to Hanja reading)

Greg

About 류현진 [柳賢振]… I don’t know how to read hanja or anything… just general understanding. So I looked into it a bit because it’s weird. Generally as far as I know, you won’t find a words that begin with ㄹ in Korean. . Same here – should be written and pronounced 유현진, but I guess people names are exception sometimes?

리상 [理想] is “Ideal”, like perfect, but it’s written and pronounced 이상, Similar to the meaning of “weird” and “more than”. All 3 spelled different in Chinese of course.

Well if anyone wondering, that why also the word 육 (six) sometimes 육, somtimes 뉵 and sometimes 륙, depends if it’s first or after certain consonants. Here kinda both Hanja reading rules and nasalization 비음화 rules come into play. I guess complicated at first.

Peter

South Koreans do not pronunce Sinokorean words the same way North Koreans do. According to the Wikipedia there is something called Initial ㄴ / ㄹ rule (두음법칙 頭音法則Dueum beopchik, “initial sound rule”) Initial ㄴ |n| / ㄹ |l| appearing in Sino-Korean words are kept in the North. In the South, in Sino-Korean words that begin with ㄹ and is followed by the vowel sound [i] or the semivowel sound [j] (when ㄹ is followed by one of ㅣ |i|, ㅑ |ja|, ㅕ |jʌ|, ㅖ |je|, ㅛ |jo| and ㅠ |ju|), ㄹ is replaced by ㅇ |∅|; when this ㄹ is followed by other vowels it is replaced by ㄴ |n|. In the North, the initial ㄹ is kept.

That’s why the Sinokorean word 理想 is pronunced 리상 in the North and 이상 in the South. Another interesting example concerns the former presidential candidate 이정희(李正姬). Some of her critics in the South deliberately spell her name in the North Korean fashion as 리정희 to mock her pro-North sympathies.

Baruch

“mock her pro-North sympathies.”

When did you stop beating your wife, etc.

rigo

hello there , this is a very good topic and also would like to know the rules for pronunciation , for example 승리자

Greg

승리자 is 승니자. Just search for korean nasalization rules.

Old Boy

Thanks Greg, I found a helpful chart of basic nasalization rules on Wikipedia: